How do you pack up 17 years?

I’ve lived here, in my current house, for the past 17 years. My parents have made  a couple moves when I was between the ages of 1-2, but  here is the only place I know to call home.

Our family has talked about upsizing to a larger home before but I never thought it would happen since we were so comfortable and settled in. But last summer, my parents started looking at listings and they fully committed to buying a new home. Though I was always the one to complain about never having enough counter space for baking or storage space for all of our stuff, I was sad when my dad suddenly announced to me that he bought a place. (Except for my sister, my mom, brother and I have never even seen the house before he bought it! My dad always makes big decisions on a whim. It’s never a dull moment with him ahaha).

Good thing we had a couple months of renovations to do at the new house. It gave me time to emotionally prepare for the big move, which is happening next week (eek!). I’m going to miss my neighbourhood. A lot. I took break from packing and studying to write this post because I’m feeling sort of overwhelmed with all this emotion (I know, I’m such a girl.) I’m staring at my moving boxes and wondering how in the world am I going to pack 17 years of my life and move away from the place that I grew up in.

Things that I’m going to miss:

1. My favourite autumn tree.

favourite tree

1. Being 20 minutes away from the seawall by running.

sunset beach

1. Being 40 minutes away from Granville Island and it’s beautiful water front.

granville island

aqua bus to granville

4. One of my favourite summer spots: the baseball field

nat bailey

1. My secret “lookout and ponder about life” spot

night lookout

1. Living in the same hood as these people:

DSC03342 72910_10151503959170191_731926179_n 20130322_181730

1. The running routes that I’m so so so familiar with. My comfort places

664701_10152238665910191_103727931_o

1. The smell of summer nights.

1. The way the snow looks falling under the street lamp right in front of my house on winter nights.

1. The way the sun comes into my room at the peak of dawn during spring.

1. The way the sun sets and lowers behind the trees and buildings that I am so used to.

1. The sidewalks where my siblings and I spent countless childhood summer days and nights just biking away.

1. The ant hills in my backyard that my siblings and I used to spray down with the hose.  

1. The sounds of the traffic. It’s not going to be the same anywhere else.

1. Main st and its boutique cafes/vintage shops/restaurants.

1. My neighbours and their cute kids.

1. My backyard garden.

1. Everything.

Join the Conversation

  1. I feel your pain. I lived in the same house my entire life, then last year my mom moved. To be fair…I had already moved out and to NY, but that was still my homebase ya know? I was pretty depressed about it (especially since my best friend lived 3 houses down from my old house) but I eventually got over it and…well…the new house is actually pretty great lol. I hope you find lots of new things to love!

    1. im starting to like this new place more, but every time i go back to the old house to visit friends my heart sinks a little, so i totally know what you mean! at least we still have the memories?

      1. yeahhhh
        I love my mom’s new house but yeah…I can’t even think about the old one, it bums me out

  2. Ohh my gosh!! Moving has to be one of the hardest things ever, which is partially why I STILL haven’t done it myself!! YES I am 24..and YES I still live at home! HAHA! I use my sister as an excuse (she has autism and I like to help my mom out) but I also FREAK out at the idea. It’s almost my time to move away though, and I am going to be soo sad. Fortunately, my mom will still be living in the house so I can come back anytime. I hope your new house is just as wonderful as this one, and you soon make great memories!

    1. brittany, i think that youre awesome for supporting your mom and sister! ahaha i won’t judge you, ill be living with my parents until im 35 😛

  3. Oh yah…I know your neighbourhood…it’s a nice one! so central! I love being able to walk to stuff. I can actually walk to Granville Island now easily too! Love it! I never thought I’d be able to get over my mom selling the house I grew up in on Wall Street. It was waterfront. Unobstructed view of mtns, downtown, both bridges. Here’s to hoping you discover new run routes, that you have a huge kitchen with tons of cupboards for your baking paraphernalia and it doesn’t rain on your move day!

    1. ahaha i called my neighbourhood hipster town 😛
      omggg how could your mom sell that!??!?!?!?! i would keep it just for the view! well im guessing you have a nice view now since you;re so close to granville island 🙂

      and thanks to you it didn’t rain on my moving day!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Like
Close
c © Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.
Close